Method of making sulfuric acid.



I UNITED STATES PATENT nnwm TAYLOR, or NEW YoRx;

OFFICE.

METHOD OF MAKING SULFURIC ACID.

1 157 455. Specification of Letters Patent. No Drawing.

-of New York, and of To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, EDWIN TAYLOR and FREDERICK P. BERGH, citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively, of the borough of Brooklymin the city and State onkers, of Westchester and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Method of Making Sulfuric Acid, of which the following is a specification.

d of producing chemical reactions,

such as 'oxidations, reductions, combinatrons, and dissociations by what is known as process, sulfur dioxid S0 t e contact or'catalytic process.

Among the objects to be attained are economy of money and space in the installation of the tively small the materlal to be thereby; the ability to act upon unpurified materials Without impoverishing or poison ing the catalytic agent; the adaptability of the method to a precise control ture of the catalytic agent and the material, the temperature of the same during the reaction, and the length of the contact period;

lVe shall illustrate our invention by reference to the production of sulfuric acid, one step in which SO +O into S0 In the manufacture of sulfuric acid by what is known as the contact or catalytic in the county passed itself. Furthermore,

of the mixprocess consists in oxidizing] is formed by v its Work. The purified O, is then caused to pass through a tube, stack, chimney, chamber or other suitable structure, at a temperature of approximately 400 (3., and in which tube or stack is a ver tical series of trays, each one supporting a quantity of a catalytic agent, such, for instance, as platinum in the form of platinized asbestos, oxid of iron, etc.

Y passing through the tube or stack and bythe trays referred to, comes into contact with the catalytic agent, and a reaction takes place generating S0 T e In carrying out the above described process, it is customary to use "catalytic agent hundred and this requires,

in a very-large amount, say several pounds, vor a ton or more;

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.- Application filed December 31, 1913. Serial No.- 809,726.

SO together with AND FREDERICK P. Burton, on YONKERS, NEW YORK.

of course, large apparatus, and increases the difficulty of handling the catalytic agent the reaction which takes place when,SO +O, comes in contact with the catalytic agent, and is changed into generates a great amount of heat, Which' raises the temperature within the stack way above that Which is necessary or advantageous for the and which excessive heat has a tendency to bring about a reversion, thereby separating SO, back again to SO +O his exigency gives rise to the necessity of introducing a cooling medium at a proper point in the oxidation of the S 2;

stack for the purpose of controlling the te'mperature of the SO a reversion.

ur invention relates chiefly to the man- "ner of conducting the contact step, and the and thereby preventing manner of controlling the temperature durwhich the S0 is being oxidized into c Broadly speaking,'one feature of our invention consists in circulating a catalytic agent in the SO +O We prefer to cir-' culate the catalvtic agent in a'moving column of SO +O, and to have the catalytic agent in a finely subdivided form, so that it may be intermingled with the SO so to speak, as a dust cloud.

In carrying out our process, sulfur ore or or comminuted 80,, together with the impurities generated finely comminuted condition,

' agent may ingata or equivalent containing for oxidizing tion by gravity;

of the same with not readily and substituting with it, and in the presence 0 0, thus constituting SOZ+O, is caused to flow in a moving column through a tube, stack, chamber,

structure. f necthe gases may be heated near the point of ingress to the container, to the well known proper temperature for oxidation in the presence of a catalytic agent.

While the SO +O is thus moving through the container at the proper temperature, a catalytic agent, such as oXid of iron, is injected into the moving gases in a finely comminuted condition, thereby mingling as a dust cloud, with the SO +O. This intermingling brings about the contact necessary the S0 into S0,.

The temperature of the mixture, due to the heat generated by the reaction, is controlled at the proper point in the container by the injection or introduction of a stream of cold air or other cooling medium, and this introduction of the cooling medium directly into the material being acted upon, constitutes another broad feature of our invention.

The bulk of the catalytic agent which may be carried along with the SO may be removed in any well known or approved manner, such, for instance, as by precipitaand the remainder by means dust collector; and the S0 after purification in any desired and appropriate manner, may be passed into the absorption chambers in the customary manner. The catalytic agent, after removal,. may be returned to the point of introduction essary,

of an electric and used again in the same manner. fter several uses, it may, if-necessary, be rev1v1- fied or purified for subsequent use, y injecting the catalytic agent into the moving column of SO +O, and particularly in a 4 we are enabled to obtain an enormously increased surface area for a given-weight of catalytic agent and a thorough intermingling and contact SO,+O.- And, furthermore, the catalytic agent, in this form, canbecome clogged or poisone by with the material beimpurities associated ing acted upon. hus we are enabled carry on a continuous process, handling 0 a few pounds of catalytic agent at a time, 1nstead of a few hundred pounds. We also obviate the necessity of stopping theapparatus new catalytic agent, w e that formerly used is being revivified.

If desired, the temperature of the catalytic be adjusted before it is introduced in order that it may not afiect the teinperature of the zone of reaction by hediiferent temperature itself.

Furthermore, by this method we are enabled to, with great facility, adjust the points ofinjection of the catal' ic agent material to be actions which includes,

material to be action.

As indicated above, in some processes it will be desirable to introduce a warming rather than a cooling medium, but the principle of direct application is both cases. Again, while we have referred to injectin the catalytic agent into the material to be acted upon, before ified, we do not intend to exclude purified; but simply important ability to act upon unpurified material with good results owing to the form of our catalytic agent. 4

It will beunderstood that various changes may be resorted to in the materials, forms of materials and manner of operation without departing from the spirit and scope .of our invention, and hence we do not wish to limit ourselves to specific details except as they maybe set forth in the claims.

What we .claim is 1. A method of producing catalytic reactions which includes, first, providing a material to be acted upon, second, passing saidf materi'al'into a container, and, third, injecting a finely subdivided catalytic agent in the form of a dust cloud into the moving material.

'2. A method of producing actions which includes, first, providing a acted upon, second, injecting a subdividedcatalytic agent therein, and, third, controlling the temperature of the reaction by the direct injection of a temperature afiect'ng medium into the material.

3. A method of producing catalytic refirst, providing a acted upon; second, passing third, in-

catalytic resaid material into a container; jecting a finely in the form of a dust cloud into the moving material; and, fourth, controlling the temperature of the reaction by the direct injection of a temperature affecting medium into the material.

4. A method of producing catalytic reactions which includes, first, providing a material to be acted upon; second, injecting a subdivided catalytic agent therein; and, third, controlling the temperature of the reaction by the direct injection of a stream of air into the material.

5; A method of producing catalytic reactions which includes, first, providing a material to be acted upon; second, passing said material into a container; third, injecting a subdivided catalytic agent into the the same in.

which has been subdivided catalytic agent.

the latter has 5 again into the moving material; catalytic agent from returning the separated catalytic agent from the point of introduction and injecting it succeeding material.

In testimony, that We claim the foregoing as our invention, We have signed our names fourth, separating the the material; and, fifth, d

in presence of two Witnesses, this thirtieth ay of December 1913.

. EDWIN TAYLOR.

FREDERICK P. BERGH. Witnesses:

F. GEORGE BARRY,

O. L. LU'NDGREN. 

